{"product_id":"danubia-9780330522793","title":"Danubia","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eDanubia\u003c\/i\u003e is the brilliant and entertaining companion to the \u003ci\u003eSunday Times\u003c\/i\u003e top ten bestseller \u003ci\u003eGermania.\u003c\/i\u003e It was longlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction 2013.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'It combines history, travelogue and digressive personal essay. Winder is a puppyishly enthusiastic companion: funny, erudite, frequently irritating, always more in control of his material than he pretends to be, and never for a moment boring . . . Danubia is a moving book, and also a sensuous one . . . Miniaturist in its eye for detail, grand in its scope, it skips beats and keeps our attention all the way' -- Sarah Bakewell * Financial Times *\u003cbr\u003e'A fresh look at a region and a dynasty of which most of us in the English-speaking world are quite ignorant' \u003ci\u003eGuardian\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e‘Memorably funny . . . wonderfully readable and entertaining’ \u003ci\u003eSunday Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e‘\u003ci\u003eDanubia\u003c\/i\u003e is 500 years of Habsburg imperial history told in the style of a bumbling English detective, the kind of sleuth who appears to skirt around a knotty case and then disarmingly poses a penetrating question . . . As with his previous work \u003ci\u003eGermania\u003c\/i\u003e, Winder describes this account as a “personal history”, allowing him space for whimsy, for a great deal of Haydn, for careful analysis of paintings and the freedom to favour certain emperors because they were interesting people rather than political heavyweights. It all makes for an excellent, rich and amusing read’ \u003ci\u003eThe Times\u003c\/i\u003e, Book of the Week\u003cbr\u003eThe high plateau of my year was my catching up with Simon Winder. \u003ci\u003eDanubia \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eGermania \u003c\/i\u003eare an idiosyncratic, often funny fusion of history writing, travel writing and disrespect -- Sir Tom Stoppard * TLS *\u003cbr\u003e‘\u003ci\u003eDanubia\u003c\/i\u003e is a logical sequel to Simon Winder’s quirky and delightful \u003ci\u003eGermaina\u003c\/i\u003e . . . Political and military history supplies \u003ci\u003eDanubia\u003c\/i\u003e with its narrative line, but Simon Winder loves to explore the byways and odd corners of this rambling empire. He is excellent on architecture, painting and music. Never averse to putting himself at the centre of what he discovers on his travels, he has written a book that is every bit as entertaining and enlightening as \u003ci\u003eGermania\u003c\/i\u003e . . . Anyone with an interest in a part of Europe and a section of history largely ignored in our schools and universities will find this book richly rewarding’ Allan Massie, \u003ci\u003eLiterary Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e‘Winder is an engaging host . . . The Habsburgs were, latterly, authoritarian liberals. They survived by guile and luck, by sheer chance and cold expediency. With the exceptions of figures like Rudolf II, that melancholy devotee of the occult, there are few of them one can imagine a novelist wanting to explore. Yet Winder rightly enthuses over the contribution this odd political amalgam made to culture . . . \u003ci\u003eDanubia\u003c\/i\u003e is astoundingly smart and negotiates the Scylla of elegy and the Charybdis of denunciation with expert skill. It’s also damn funny, and includes dodos, the banning of cribs, cockatrices and the entire history of Europe’ Stuart Kelly, \u003ci\u003eScotland of Sunday\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e‘There is travelogue here, with vivid descriptions of Ukrainian towns, and Transylvanian villages. There are snatches of autobiography too, often anecdotal and whimsical, but sometimes filled with passion about his discoveries of art or music. The main quality of this book, however, is its humour, which sets it aside from the standard histories. To say that Winder is a jokey writer would not begin to do him justice . . . And yet, and yet . . . As the chapters roll past in their gales of hilarity, Winder manages at the same time to do something remarkably skilful, handling complex issues of geopolitics, national identity and cultural change with a deep and surprising thoughtfulness’ \u003ci\u003eSunday Telegraph\u003c\/i\u003e, Book of the Week\u003cbr\u003eFunny and yet also fantastically informative -- Books of the Year * Observer *","brand":"Pan Macmillan","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49401792004439,"sku":"9780330522793","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/danubia-9780330522793","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}